Remember the name
by Littledrops
Summary: In a world still gathering the pieces after the Third Shinobi War, some have gone to find their way in life and others, to find a way to atone for their mistakes. Sasuke Uchiha thought he could do the right thing, but events from the past will now change his future. Left with guilt and shame, Sasuke finds the only person who can help him accept his past. His niece. ((OC Story))


_New story, hope you enjoy._

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 _In a world still gathering the pieces after the Third Shinobi War, some have gone to find their way in life and others, to find a way to atone for their mistakes. Sasuke Uchiha thought he could do the right thing, but events from the past will now change his future. Left with guilt and shame, Sasuke finds the only person who can help him accept his past. The daughter of Itachi Uchiha._

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...

Sun flittered through the trees, lighting up the small town where people were already up and roaming the streets, getting ready for a new day to start. Only few took notice of the cloaked man who entered through the city gates, he was nothing special, they got many travellers who stopped in their small town to rest.

Yet, had someone stopped to actually look closely at the man, he would perhaps have been recognized. But he was grateful that none of the villagers seemed to pay him any mind and it allowed him to order a cup of tea and take a small break before setting out again.

Moving his head slightly, some of his hair was swept aside, making it easier for him to read over the last report Naruto had managed to get to him. A picture of Sarada on her first day at the Academy had been enclosed too, with a small note from Sakura.

In silence, his good hand took out the picture with his wife and daughter, who had grown so much he barely recognized her. He had not seen her for almost five years and he wondered if the crushing feeling in his chest could get any worse.

Had he not been whom he was and had made the mistakes he had made, he would have gone back home. Home to a woman who somehow always knew him better than he did himself and home to his daughter who would need his guidance one day when she woke her Kekkei Genkai.

However, he was not someone who could just go home. He was Sasuke Uchiha and he was the only man who could do the job he set out to do. He was also the only one who could make up for his past mistakes.

"Indeed-," a woman's shrill voice cut into his train of thought, making him look away from the picture in his hand and carefully place it inside his cloak. "-She cried blood," the words the woman said made Sasuke stiffen for a second, but he mentally wanted to shake himself. There were several poisons and sicknesses that could make this happen, but on instinct, he slowly sipped his tea and listened in. His years of doing undercover work and act as a spy had made his ears pick up even the faint whispers of the ignorant old women who gossiped in the streets.

"No, I heard she had red eyes and it was why Healer Kersi thought she was possessed," this sentence made Sasuke grip his teacup a little harder, but he knew there was little truth to the words of these women. They were sharing a story that had already been retold many times and had therefore changed.

But then again, Sasuke knew that some small part of this outlandish tale had to be true. But it would be so small it would not be worth investigating.

Smoothly, Sasuke placed a few coins on the table and stood. He had no need for more useless information in his head; he needed to be in Tetsu no Kuni before nightfall. There, he would be able to get the next report from Naruto and hear about the Root shinobi that had been sent to the village. Decapitated and sealed in scrolls.

The sun has become a deep orange as it sank down below the Three Wolves Mountains as Sasuke reached the large gates that would lead him into the city. Four samurai were guarding the gates, but when lowered his hood and lifted up the marked scroll, they opened the gates.

It was not unusual for the people in Tetsu no Kuni to dislike him, but Sasuke knew that some held more animosity for him than others. He would have to be careful; he had only stepped past the city gates twice before, one when the Kages had a summit and the second time to be pardoned for his crimes done in the land.

Without taking any detours, Sasuke used the growing darkness to slip through the city and towards the middle where he could find the large building that held many offices. He landed on the roof without a sound, but knew the second he straightened his back that he was not alone.

"Uzumaki and you need to find a better system," the raspy voice of the elderly man called out and Sasuke gave him an impassive look. Mifune had been the one to ask him to come in person instead of meeting up with someone halfway.

"What is here in Tetsu no Kuni that I need to be informed of?" he asked, now knowing Mifune did not ask him there out of spite or inconvenience. Something had made the aging samurai reach out to him and request his physical presence in the city.

"You may look like him, but you and Itachi are different in spirit," the words were spoken in a calm tone, but Sasuke had to stop himself from reacting to the mentioning of his brother.

He knew Itachi had saved Mifune once, making the man owe him a life debt, but he knew no more of their encounter than this. What was the old samurai playing at?

"Come with me," Mifune said and walked across the roof to a door that led back inside. Sasuke kept his mind focused as they walked through the narrow halls, but something told him that everything was not all right. Something was wrong and Mifune was about to give him some bad news.

Once inside the spacious office, the leader of Tetsu no Kuni walked to his desk and took out a small slip of paper and putting it on his desk for the Uchiha to see.

Sasuke took in the photo, noting that it's colors and quality meant it was taken roughly five years ago. And then, he looked at the small girl in the photo, dressed in maroon clothes and holding a katana.

She did not smile and her eyes gave off emotions Sasuke recognized all too well. Her eyes looked like his had done when he was her age. Dead.

Her black hair was braided elegantly in one side, but the rest of hair looked to be blowing in the wind and her pale skin made the long thin scar from her chin to her collarbone stand out.

Something in Sasuke had made him wait to look closely at her face, but when he finally did, he saw the wrinkle between her eyebrows and the way her lips had thinned as she pressed them together. The facial features were eerily familiar and when he looked at how she held her katana, his eyes flashed to red when he looked up from the photo to Mifune, who was observing him.

"It cannot be true," he said, then unsure if they had been the right words. Some part of him knew it had to be impossible and yet, some other part of him hoped she was out there. That she was real.

"Itachi wrote me a letter, informing me that if I ever helped someone who wore his exact necklace, my debt would be considered repaid," Mifune paused and took out what looked like an old scroll, which Sasuke knew contained Itachi's message.

"Three months later, I got the news that he had passed while fighting you. And then five years ago, a girl of no more than seven reached our gates. Bloody and wearing the necklace I had forgotten all about," Sasuke calmed himself as he listened to the elderly man speak. Had they known for the last five years? Why had he not been contacted before and why in the world has she not been sent to Konoha?

He opened his mouth to speak, but Mifune lifted a hand to stop him, and first not did Sasuke see how tired and worried the man looked.

"She already knew everything. Itachi left her letters and instructions, but he had not realized how early she would learn everything. She specifically asked for you not to be informed, as she had trouble accepting you took Itachi's life," Mifune said and Sasuke felt his hand unclench beneath his cloak.

He could understand.

If Itachi had explained everything, he would have included that he planned for Sasuke to take his life. And from the stories that were told in Tetsu no Kuni, she had gotten the truth about him from others too.

"And her mother?" Sasuke asked, not knowing exactly how this fit together, but he wanted to investigate. "Dead," Mifune responded, a grave expression on his face. "Murdered while Azalea was forced to watch," he continued and Sasuke did not need to ask to understand this had been the trigger in her life that had activated her Kekkei Genkai.

"Azalea?" he asked instead, wondering if Itachi had any part in naming her and if he even got to see the child before he died. A flicker of memory floated to the top of his mind, Itachi, himself and their mother in the gardens, listening to her talk about how azaleas were dangerous because of their poison.

"She told me the flower had something to do with how her parents met. More of the story, I do not know," Mifune said and pushed the photo across the table again, this time with three scrolls and the newly printed Bingo Book.

"I inform you of her now because she left to see the world, but I have since not been able to locate her," Mifune looked to be hesitating and then added, "and she has a letter for you, one Itachi wrote before his death," Sasuke looked at the samurai and was unsure of what exact emotion to feel.

Anxiety, anger, confusion, happiness, sadness, or maybe all of them. Everything in his head seemed to hurt, but he forced himself to keep his mind on track for now. He had to listen.

"She was last seen on the ports here in Tetsu no Kuni, injured but alive," and Sasuke felt his heart settle down, even though he had not noticed before now how fast it had been beating.

She was alive as far as Mifune knew and if she had been training as a samurai for the last five years, he doubted many could overpower her. But as he picked up the photo and placed it right besides the one with Sadara, he knew he was lying to himself. She was still just a child and she could be dead for all he knew.

"I will find her," he said before he even managed to think it over. He had many other things he should be doing, but as his mouth had spoken the words, his brain had already formed an excuse, Naruto would be more than okay with him putting off the mission to look for this girl.

Sasuke left the city not long after, choosing to disregard sleep until he had made it to the ports of Tetsu no Kuni and figured out if she had made it onto a boat or fled back into the wilds of the land.

Then the conversation from the morning popped into his head and Sasuke knew there could be some truth to the red eyes now, if she were still in Tetsu no Kuni.

...

It took four days before he left Tetsu no Kuni behind, having found out that she had probably left with a trade ship headed to Mizu no Kuni. Doing the same as her, Sasuke also found the time to write a note for Naruto and send it with his hawk. He could have used some of the new electronic devices, but he knew some people had managed to get through the security log-ins. This information could not fall into the wrong hands.

" _In search of my niece. Tell S I will return home"_

It was all he wrote, but he knew it would be enough and if anyone managed to catch his hawk, the message would not make sense because is was not coded and written so plainly. Only if they knew it was from him, would it cause problems, but no one but Naruto knew he changed his hawk with a layer of Genjutsu.

The more days that passed on the boat, the more Sasuke shifted between the two pictures in his hands. Was it truly possible that she had been out there all this time? That Itachi had fathered a daughter knowing his life would end?

Had he loved the woman enough, Itachi might have left her with a child and with the scroll from Itachi to Mifune in hand, Sasuke knew it was no lie. Itachi had become a father right as he had died.

Right when he had killed him.

Pain shot through him again and Sasuke loathed the feeling of guilt and shame that washed over him. He should have been the one to die, not Itachi. Itachi would have made a wonderful father and if he had found a woman he loved, he should have stayed with her for his last few months. He should have stayed to meet his child.

Sasuke hated feeling guilty, but he had never felt the emotion as strong as it was right now. Not even when he left Konoha and had kissed his wife goodbye, unable to tell her when they would see each other next.

...

On land, Sasuke wasted no time in finding all information he could, but it was first after he had crossed the Great Naruto Bridge that he found all he had been looking for at once.

In the land Nami no Kuni, he had planned to stop by Tazuna, as he was well connected and might have heard something. But when he had entered the estate, he had felt a presence that seemed slightly familiar. One of a shinobi he felt he had met before, but only in passing.

Inari had been the one to greet him, clearly astonished by his presence and then a look of understanding had passed over the now young mans face.

"You're looking for her, aren't you?" he asked plainly and Sasuke had to swallow to prevent his mouth from going dry. "You know of her?" he asked instead, not wanting to give any information before Inari told him everything he knew.

"She told us she was waiting for you and we offered her a place to stay. Grandpa will be home soon," he said and Sasuke felt eyes on him and he knew she was watching him. Was she planning on attacking or just hiding?

And he got his answer when a young girl jumped down from a tree that stood by the entrance to the estate; her long black hair braided and narrowed black eyes meeting his.

She looked older than in the picture and Sasuke turned around to observe her fully, ignoring how uncomfortable Inari looked at the situation.

Without a word, the girl took a scroll out of her pouch and threw it to him and when he caught it, she grimaced, "I can't read it. It had to be your blood," her voice sounded like that of a child, but her eyes told him she did not want to pass on this scroll.

Instead of opening the scroll like he was itching to do, Sasuke put it inside his cloak and took a few steps in her direction. The closer he got, the more he could see the resemblance to Itachi in her. Her posture and her eyes were the same as his.

"You look like him," Sasuke said when there was no more than three meters between them, unsure of what to tell the girl. He could apologize, but he knew the words would not change anything.

"Do you?" she asked and this time, her voice was not as cold as it had been before, but more vulnerable and innocent. She had probably only seen a few pictures of Itachi and as Sasuke knew, most of them had been of poor quality. Itachi had been illusive after he left Konoha and even in the Bingo Book, they had resorted to drawings instead of photos back then.

"Yes," he said simply and he wished he had Sakura there with him when he saw the girl's eyes water, even if no tears escaped her eyes.

"I'm so-" he did not get any further, because she had flung a shuriken at him, "do not apologize. It was his choice, if anything, he should have apologized to you," she spoke quickly and quietly, had he been a mere civilian, he would have missed all of her words.

"How did you know I was looking for you?" Sasuke asked, wondering how long they would stand in front of the house and talk like this, awkward and uncomfortable.

"I-" she paused, "-I saw you in Tetsu no Kuni, I knew word would reach Mifune-sensei about my injury," she stopped the sentence there, but it was not hard for him to piece it together. She knew Mifune well enough that he would cave and tell Sasuke about her, and she knew the only reason he would come all the way to Tetsu no Kuni, would be to meet with Mifune.

He wanted to ask why she did not stop him, if she truly saw him, but he did not dare. Here she stood, a child who like him, had lost her family at a young age.

"Azalea?" both of their heads turned to the house where a woman now stood, a worried look on her face. Then she saw Sasuke and a small smile slowly formed on her lips, "Sasuke-kun, so wonderful to see you!" Tsunami said with enthusiasm, but Sasuke could not help but pick up on her nervous look towards Azalea.

"Are you on your way back to Konoha to see Naruto become the Hokage?" she asked and gestured for him to come inside and Sasuke cast a glance at his newly found family member, who was already walking towards the door, not even soaring him a glance.

"Yes," he lied. It had not been his plan, but maybe this would fit if he could convince Azalea to go to Konoha with him. Visit her grandparents and the official grave that had been made for Itachi after the war.

They were both swept inside and before Sasuke knew it, he was politely eating dinner with Tazuna and his family, having to listen to him retelling the mission that had happened so many years ago.

It seemed Mifune had told Azalea some things about Sasuke and his teammates, which was why she had gone to Tazuna, hoping to see if the name on the bridge was no accident.

"And when she showed up, her eyes like yours, I tell you, my heart stopped," Tazuna said, his voice serious and Inari seconded his words with a nod. "Then I remembered you had a little daughter, but she was much to old to be…" he trailed off and looked at Sasuke, "Sarada," he gave the name and Tazuna gave a small chuckle.

"You have a daughter?" It was Azalea who asked and Sasuke met her eyes, trying to read her face, but the emotionless mask she wore was much like the one her father used to have.

"Yes," he said stiffly, "She is six," he added and was prepared for her to say something else, but she just nodded and stood to help Tsunami with the dishes.

When both were out of the dining room, Tazuna gave Sasuke a harsh glare, "You will take her home, won't you? She has had it rough from what I can tell. Very quiet girl, but polite and kind," he said and Sasuke could not remember when he had last been lectured like this. Perhaps Kakashi had said something before he left Konoha last time.

"If she wishes," he said, because it was the truth. He would not take her against her will, but he hoped he could somehow bring her home and what would happen then, well, Naruto would have to figure that out as the new Hokage.

"We will be leaving next week for Konoha, but I am assuming you will leave earlier?" Inari asked, but Sasuke did not know what to answer. In truth, he had only planned to stop by this household for information and leave as quickly as possible, but before he could say anything, he heard a soft musical sound from the kitchen. A light and soft laugh that instantly brought up memories of his mother.

Had she inherited Mikoto's laugh in some way? Was that even possible?

"It is up to her," he said and stood, hoping to excuse himself just when Tsunami came back in, carrying a tray of tea.

"Azalea likes to take her tea on the porch, you can join her if you want," she said, trying hard to be subtle, only making her attempt at making them talk, even more obvious.

Sasuke had been through hell and back again, but this situation was more than he could ever wish upon his worst enemy. He barely knew these people and yet they acted like he was a regular guest.

Instead of coming up with an answer, he took the teacup and walked past Tsunami and when he entered the kitchen, he could see her through the windows, sitting on the porch and looking up at the moon.

"Itachi did that too," Sasuke said from the doorway and she had no reaction. It was only when he leaned against the outer wall that she turned her head to look at him. "Have you read your letter yet?" he had wanted to read the scroll she threw at him earlier, but he knew he would want to be in private for it.

"They were all in a box. You could only open it with the Sharingan. He made it like that so that I would only read them when I was ready," she was not looking at him as she talked, but Sasuke made no interruptions, taking in every word she spoke.

"He got to hold me before he died," she said and Sasuke sucked in a breath of cold air, "just once, before he left. He only had a few months left and he wanted to end it on his own terms," she drank some of her tea, "for years, I hated you. I wanted to kill you for what you did, but when all the anger was slowly vanishing, I started to understand… I think," Azalea looked up at him, her black eyes turning red for a single second before switching back to black.

"He loved you," she then said and Sasuke closed his eyes, wondering if he even knew how to say the words his feelings were trying to spell out.

"He loved my mom," he voice broke when she mentioned her mother, and Sasuke was reminded of what Mifune had said. How and why she had gotten the Sharingan so young. The girl was openly crying now and Sasuke could not get a single word out, the only thing he could do was place a hand on her shoulder, surprising even himself by the action.

Minutes passed before Sasuke finally found his voice, "did he want you to go to Konoha?" he asked and Azalea looked up at him, a faint smile on her lips, "he did," she said and Sasuke knew she would be coming with him back home.

Later that night after having left Azalea to pack her things and get ready for the morning, Sasuke sat in an old tree that still bore faint markings of someone cutting it with a kunai. He took out the scroll and bit his finger, drawing a clear line of his blood over the seal on it.

The blood disappeared and it unfolded to let him read what Itachi had not been able to say while he was alive. His good hand was trembling as his eyes landed on the neatly written words, unmistakably in Itachi's handwriting. Even when his eyesight had been failing, Itachi had written like this with no mistakes.

...

" _Sasuke, if you are reading this, then you have discovered you are no longer the last Uchiha. It also means Azalea has sought you out and is ready to accept what happened between us._

 _You must be wondering how this happened, but I am not sure I can explain it myself._

 _I met Lira not long after I joined the Akatsuki. She had been trying to stop villagers from burning flowers because of their poison, but she was unsuccessful and gathered some to replant in her own garden._

 _Kisame and I had watched the exchange between her and the village Elder, but we kept our distance. However, on our mission I was badly injured and did not make it far before my body gave out. I had thought Zetsu would locate me, but when I awoke, it was her. The girl who had tried to defend flowers._

 _Through the next couple of years, I stopped by the village and each time, she would give me a flower. I found comfort with her and something that reminded me of home. A place where I was not just Itachi Uchiha._

 _I made sure only Kisame knew of her and when she became pregnant with our child, I had a choice to make. She knew of my past and of you, which was how she could tell me to do what was right. I sincerely hope you will get to meet her, Sasuke._

 _Lira gave me a daughter, one that I hope you can help guide in this cruel world. I cannot guess how old she will be when you are reading this, but a part of me wished she would live her life as a civilian girl. Nonetheless, in my letter to Azalea, I wrote that if she were not ready to seek you out, Tetsu no Kuni would be the safest place for her._

 _And now I hope the safest place for her is with you, little brother._

 _The world we grew up in was never fair and even if this war ends, the world will not change. We both know that deep in our hearts._

 _Sasuke, I also want to apologize to you here because I do not know if I will get the chance when we meet. I have many things to apologize for, but the one I can never forgive myself for is for leaving you alone._

 _If you have a wife or find one and father a child, you will know how I feel now. Why I can set aside my shame and ask you to care for my daughter, now that I cannot._

 _I wish I could have done things differently, but living in the past will help no one._

 _Remember that, Sasuke._

 _Itachi Uchiha"_

 _..._

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 _End of chapter 1_


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